EGG PRODUCTION 



299 



to over 250 by authentic records. Questionable records give still 

 higher yields. The annual product of an average good layer is 

 about 1 2 or 13 dozen eggs a year. The usual average for flocks of 

 several hundred and upward ranges from 9 to 12 dozen per hen, 

 10 dozen being considered a good average yield for flocks of several 

 hundred. High flock averages indicate general uniformity in laying. 

 Low averages under good conditions indicate very unequal laying, 

 and either weak stock, bad conditions, or poor selection of stock. 

 Selection of stock for laying. Selection of layers is a practically 

 continuous process, beginning with the weeding out of markedly 

 inferior birds as soon as they are large enough for table use, and 

 continued by the regular disposal thereafter of all birds that fail to 

 develop, or that, after having developed and perhaps produced for a 

 period, go so much out of condition that they seem unlikely to be- 

 come profitable producers again. In selecting laying stock on this 

 principle the standard used is the well-developed, vigorous individual 

 bird. With occasional exceptions, due apparently to ovarian trouble, 

 the best-developed and best-looking l pullets in a flock prove to be 

 the best layers. The undeveloped, slow developing, and least attrac- 

 tive birds are usually distinctly inferior to the others, especially in 

 comparisons of yields for long periods. The relative proportions 

 of good, medium, and poor birds selected in this way varies greatly. 

 In well-bred, well-grown stock the proportion of pullets which 

 should be discarded at or before maturity ought not to exceed 

 one in eight or ten, and of the remainder the extra choice and 

 ordinary birds should be about equally divided. After the culling 

 out of the inferior I o per cent or 1 2 per cent, the general average 

 production of such a flock of pullets, under good conditions and 

 management, should be good, with the production of the better half 

 of the flock averaging one or two dozen eggs per hen more than 

 that of the poorer half. The better half of the flock should also 

 show the lower mortality and the smaller percentage of birds going 

 out of condition. If the stock is indifferently well bred and has not 

 been well managed, the proportion that are likely to prove profitable 



1 Not necessarily the best looking to a fancier who has been educated to 

 judge by artificial standards, but the birds in the flock which the ordinary per- 

 son with an appreciation of beauty due to physical development and 'condition 

 would consider most attractive. 



